Pachelbel`s canon..

I've liked the James Galway version of it for ages now, think its the best version of it i've ever heard, but i think its his own arangement.
I don't think its ever been published and looking over on the Galway network someone did ask if it has been published, but there was no reply.

There seems to be quite a few arangements of it out there,,i've got a copy here,,but its nothing like the Galway version..

Would there be a version out there that is similar??? i would imaging that everyone at some stage would have played this..lol.

Hi,
I think that this is an interesting question but people have not been quite sure what to respond.

Firstly, Galway's arrangements are probably more specific to the event and not necessarily available for purchase. He probably could have some some of the recording's arrangements and gained a few extra bucks but on the other hand people would have gone around trying to sound like him while touting things like "This piece was a special arrangement by James Galway." The problem with that is that Galway's arrangements of a few notes most certainly won't make a flutist sound like him. Another problem is that the arrangements probably aren't findable. Asking Galway about some music that he played a few decades ago isn't going to get much response from him because he may have only seen the music at some unmemorable recording session back then and he may have been improvising or fiddling around with the notes back then anyway.

I've played the Canon a few times and I have a version sold by Mel Bay in a Sacred Solos book #1. What I never liked about that version is that there's no rests, a lot of relatively longer high notes and consequently it's a marathon for the lips. I have also played another version for WW5 that is much easier and in the same upper range.

What I'd do is look around in stores for something that you will like. This piece is arranged for various instruments in ensemble or as a solo because it's such a standard at weddings I'd not limit to flute. As an example, you can check for string versions that you may like. If they go too low, then take them up an octave or two. As another example, one other version that I have performed is for harp. When I play it with the harpist, I simply play follow the leader (or vice versa). If you know the separation of the parts, it does not matter which phrase section that you are playing as long as the players are all in the same spot (beat) in the phrase at the same time because the piece was written to fit together in that manner.

Yes,i understand what you saying, and that he could never publish all the music he has played or arranged, can you imagine how many that would be if he did!!...but then saying that i think he has published a few.

Its still a shame that you can hear a great arrangement like that and not be able to get the sheet music for it, oh well..

Thanks.
Mark.

Its amazing how many different arrangements there are for one piece of music, especially for something like canon..but i quess thats the same for most music,, i'm working on a couple of pieces from Telemanns suite in A minor at the moment, and i got my teachers copy plus a copy that i bought myself, arranged by different people,, where it says piano in one its says forte in the other?? all the instructions are different,,the only things that are the same in both copies are the notes...

If you do find a copy of the Canon thats sounds good,,i would be very interested..

The thing about these earlier pieces and Galway to some extent is that they seem to be open to "interpretations". For example, the Telemann Fantasias (BTW:I highly recommend them) were written with very few dynamic and articulations but that the International pub. version (Edited by J.P. Rampal) has so many modifications. Rampal did a tone of pieces that were originally for flute (or not)this way and obtained a fair income from this editing business. I think that so has Galway in more recent years but some of Galway's sound recordings go back a few decades. He really hit it big in the 70, I believe and that version of the Canon my go back that far.

So pieces like the Pachelbel's greatest hit is very popular with the brides and it is very sell-able. Anybody can do their own version with a few nips and tucks here and there to the notes. I've seen the original scoring and I believe that it was for 4 or 5 strings. Technically, I believe that it's written as a 4 pt Canon above a "ground". There is supposed to be a Gigue that was to go after the Canon but it isn't played much. Some of the versions that I've seen have very little relation to the original including key and meter changes. This reminds me of the Version of Ravel's Bolero on YouTube that is performed by Andre Rieu. I don't think that Ravel would have recognized it as the parts have been altered and the original intent of Ravel is pretty much lost as a result.

Perhaps since there are so many arrangements of the Canon, Galway didn't bother with it because of a potentially small income from the work and expense of time. I'd have to say that I don't think that he does much actual arranging anyway. He probably had someone whip it up quick on the spot just for the ensemble that was used. If anything, he would have probably just said, here I'll play this or that. Thin out the other instruments so that my flute can stand out. Or maybe here I'll take it up an octave or there I'll rest for 8 bars and all the while, some other person was writing this all down and in about 25 mins it's sitting on the orchestra's stands. The gig's recorded, mixed and edited while the music is swept into the circular file and dumped.